Starting recording again in January after Christmas Break, before term start, I organised with my Skater participant to record some audio. We decided on Prime skatepark as it was relatively quiet for the middle of the day and would make for reduced background noise. It also was a great location as it had a multitude of obstacles and objects to skate.

Due to location this was a great spot for my participant as well as myself, being local to my university allowing me to manage my time efficiently in term, and being a local park for my skater it was great for the ease and comfortability that is necessary when performing tricks, specifically to the level they hold.

When doing some recordings after estimating the correct gain, some issues of overloading the gain ensued when high impact tricks were performed at high speeds. The materials and echoic nature of the skatepark enhanced the loudness of tricks leading to me having to reduce gain while recording to not waste material leading to audible problems in recordings. Due to being in the middle of the day we did not have more time to collect more recordings.


After realising issues with gain clipping, and the management of time I decided to make some test recordings before fully starting. To figure out an appropriate gain, I asked my participant to ollie (Jump) on the spot on his skateboard to represent the impact transients of performing tricks, I recorded it relatively close to account for the discrepancies in force of impact/performance. This worked pretty effectively and produced decent results in terms of capturing foreground noise of skateboarding (directly harsh and loud transients) but lacked in capturing the motion of wheels/skateboard and the texture of the environment.

Week 2

After regularly recording with low input gain to reduce clipping of transients the quality worsened. While representative of the impact of skateboarding, it lacked the tonal qualities that are evident when skating in person. I decided to try focus on proximity effect of recording and quietly move around the stimuli I am recording, though this affects the natural stereo image and depth of the field recordings, it  does however allow me to record clearly the movement and tonality of the environment.

As the skatepark gradually got busy (even just 2 extra people being inside) the ability to record clearly without exterior background noise became impossible, leading to me stopping recording.

(In my spare time I would skate when I had the chance, typically after recording sessions or skate night on wednesdays throughout the duration of the project)

Ideas to combat problems of gain riding with the DR05 led me to possibly use my binaural Roland Cs10em microphones to capture the tonality and environment. The only issue is  that due to the nature of acousmatic pressure and in ear binaural microphones, the loud transients of skateboarding could possibly lead to ear damage if there is too high an input gain and monitor gain, If careful this can be avoided easily. However due to the nature of time, the skatepark filling up, I felt this was too redundant for our time management. I managed to speak to the manager of the skatepark and organise being able to visit in the middle of the day off peak hours to ensure being able to record material, without any background noise or other problematic factors.

The next time I went Prime I decided to record near the pumptrack of the skatepark instead of recording the flatground area for differentiation and variety in recordings. Skateboarding isn’t all about tricks but also about cruising and motion, the displacement of air as you thrust through your surroundings. Recorded correctly this can be a compelling and interesting sonic, recorded poorly it can just sound like air attacking mic capsules. Depending on the speed and energy, even with a popshield or windshield, the wind displacement can still be very audibly recognisable, and audibly poor. Due to the nature of built in microphones and the design of the recorder, my accessories struggled staying on, sometimes allowing for irregularities in the filtering of wind/air. Some recordings were collected and good enough quality whilst others were wasteful and pointless, not depicting any motion and audibly clipping.

Placement of the recording device is relative to the medium you are recording, for example positioning where the air will be separating as the skater pumps through the track will force the mic to only pick up the air displacement. Holding it out of the direct wind pressure, yet angled to your source, can often help reduce picking up unnecessary factors. These issues with air pressure are problematic when trying to record aspects of skateboarding.

 After consistently dealing with monitoring the gain live whilst recording, on top of trying to position the recorder and capture the best possible performance, I was coming to the realisation something had to change. Being distracted from capturing the best performance due to monitoring gain so actively led to inadvertently missing performances and tricks, having to rerecord and never quite capture the original ambiance, tonality and energy originally intended.

Out of intrigue I was researching different field recorders on the market, giving me ideas to upgrade. After researching for a short while on 32bit float audio, the benefits of utilising 32bitfloat audio and such (as well as how it may apply for my uses and applications) I felt that this bitdepth might be more beneficial to my usage of a recording device. Specifically the nature of 32bitfloat audio and how the gain will rarely clip due to the nature of its large/infinite head room and so on. Being able to not have to constantly change my input gain while recording will be a massive help towards my project and any field recording that I will have to do in the future. After deciding on wanting a 32bitfloat recording device, I researched the devices on the market for how they could relate to my workflow and become a valuable tool. I wanted something that was portable, good quality and reliable whilst also being cost effective.

Many devices on the market are reasonable and good for my usage, like the zoom F3 for example, compact and 32bitfloat capabilities. The downside however was that it lacked a built in microphone/set, forcing the user to have to buy external microphones and so on. Now this wouldn’t be too problematic If I had an assortment of microphones already, but due to finances I have no microphones in my possession. Whilst being a good price device, the cost of buying an additional mic on top of the recording cost was a bit too steep, contradicting the incentive of managing funds and resources. The next product I researched was the TASCAM portacapture x8, a 32bitfloat recording device that features 2 pair built in microphones. The microphones orientations are interchangeable allowing an X-Y method benefiting a clear stereo field, to an A-B Method enforcing a wide left-right stereo field. It features 4 XLR/TRS ports. A downside to this recorder was that it didn’t allow the functionality of plug in power, meaning the usage of my Roland 10csem binaural microphones was impossible.

A large consideration into getting a new device was functionality with my previous equipment, and possibly negating a focal feature in my recording equipment would be too problematic. After thinking hard about possibly purchasing a device that makes my own gear irrelevant, or purchasing a device where I have to then buy more microphones and equipment I tried to find a middle ground. The lower model of portacapture,  the x6, provided plug-in power capabilities as well as the same microphone arrangement as well as 32bit float capabilities. It lacked 2 extra xlr/trs ports (lacking any TRS ports at all),  as well as the capability of 192 khz, the x6 is only capable of 96khz, which isn’t too detrimental to the quality of audio I am recording, as well as the functionality of audio. After debating for a while, I finally set on purchasing the portacapture x6 as well as the bluetooth adapter chip to allow compatibility with my mobile phone, allowing for portable monitoring and the ability to make adjustments when needed, after deciding the zoom F3 and Portcapture x8 were not suitable for my usage, I decided on purchasing the Portacapture x6, as it worked with my binaural microphones.

After purchasing the Portacapture x6 I set out to get some test recordings with it, specifically recording skateboard audio. I went down to Prime Skatepark solo as I couldn’t organise with my participant to record due to conflicting schedules, to try and record myself skateboarding and doing tricks. From this point I’d decide bring my recording device with me everywhere I went out, as sometimes when I went skating in the weeks I wouldn’t bring my device, now I can capture more often, whilst trying to dodge background noise.

Being concerned of how I’ll be able to set up my device, I had to awkwardly improvise my devices positioning. Luckily there was a small plastic chair in the skatepark, flat and stable enough to sit my recorder on without worries. Though small, the chair was tall enough to accurately capture the full stereo field and movement of me skating a ledge.

Previous experiences led me constantly ride the gain and monitor levels, and issues with 24bit audio and clipping was a commonality. Due to the nature of 32bitfloat audio, I didn’t have to worry about gain once. Due to the technology, you can just set up your device to record freely on input gain 0 and be sure to pick up the audio you are recording despite the db monitoring levels. However if you want to, in a sense, ‘accurately’ depict or visualise the audio you are recording, the x6 allows you to turn up your input gain when some 32bitfloat devices do not allow so. This wasn’t needed though as all recordings were recorded at 0db input and the levels were brought up in post. Just merely turning up the audio recordings’ gain in a DAW will do the trick for sorting out levels, even rudimentary (yet powerful) audio editors like audacity work for this.

Due to ligament injuries in both ankles over the past years, my skating ability has been affected badly, so it was good to be only concerned with my performance of skating, and not the quality of recordings as worrying about both would have hindered the whole process. Though I’m capable of quite a few tricks and can grind ledges and whatnot, the experience of having a brilliant skater to record, and a mediocre one was evident. Rather than me not being concerned with the execution of tricks and knowing they will be executed perfectly, I had to be concerned about representing the trick audibly through my skating, as opposed to just enacting the trick. This repetitive nature of trying to capture a trick correctly was difficult to deal with,  as sonically, it never quite reached my standards. It was not a vain effort however, as I did collect good quality audio whilst being able to test the functions of my recording device. I also decided to record some impulse responses of the skatepark in different locations after getting my recording device, to be able to recreate the space and reverb of a skatepark. I will also be including these impulse responses within my sample pack so other people can also recreate the space of the skatepark and apply it creatively.

 After having some test runs with my new 32bit device, I organised to record skating with my participant again at prime skatepark. Not only was this beneficial in terms of quality of skating, I also couldn’t physically skate due to injuring my ankle again in the week so all skateboarding had to be done by an external source rather than myself making up for scheduling conflicts.

I decided to emphasise on getting recordings of the pump track, and focusing more on the movement in skateboarding/skateboarding sound. After previous problems with wind displacement and the windshield not fitting I felt it would be appropriate to try and collect these sounds again. After previously having issues with my own windshield, I asked my lecturer if he could lend me his windshield, thankfully he said yes and let me use it. Thankfully the windshield fit my device and enabled me to collate and record the sonics that I intended originally, as opposed to blustering sounds of wind. I will admit however, though wind displacement is a destructive effect, it can be used creatively and interpolated to a desirable effect. With the quality windshield now applied the sound of wind displacement, and the movement of air became less harsh and more audible, as opposed to just sounding texturally abrasive it had definitive features and details within the movement of the skater. Rather than immediately clipping or overloading the microphone capsules, it captured the tonality of movement and depth of the air. In conjunction with the moving of wheels and the doppler effect, the nice pitch shifts and tonal changes of movement feel thicker and realistic as opposed to the rolling of an object on a surface, there is a movement within a scene.

Having getting all the recording stage finished and finalized, with a variety of types of skating captured. I felt it was appropriate to start working on the production stage of things. My first act was to collect usable audio and start creating the sample pack I would be providing to people. I didn’t create all the samples in one moment, rather I started cutting samples and usable material first to see the direction of samples and their possible applications (Layering possibilities, combining sounds and sonics to create other sounds and intentions). A focal point was clear transients that are definitive in their sound and immediately recognisable, as well as having enough frequency content and the sonic qualities to manipulate and work with. For example; choosing clear and snappy pops of tricks to be layers or bases for snare samples, or down pitching and  changing pops to give a body to a tom drum or bass drum. These were immediate thoughts and parallels to get instant results but some other instruments and transients were hard to ‘recreate’ or develop. I would spend the remainder of this week honing clear samples and trying to use them referentially as drums.

Week 8

While creating my sample pack and cutting audio, I developed a small ‘drum kit/break kit’ to use as baseline sounds for different grooves and patterns to represent and establish a foundation for the direction of drum sounds. I had a logic regarding that if the same sounds can be used in multiple drumbeats and rhythms cohesively and effectively, then they could pass for drum samples. If they retained the sense of energy drumbeats do with the midi patterns of grooves, the skate samples would be applicable for developing drum samples or using as layering and such. It was only after experimenting with a litany of bpms and drum grooves that I came to the conclusion some of my “high hats” weren’t quite drum like, nor were the snares punchy and dramatic. Where some grooves use the opening and closing of high hats, my samples couldn’t replicate that energy or texture, a flat false definition. Adjusting layers ,of pitch, decay and length of samples was necessary to try and create an open hihat. I also tried to manipulate intense landings within tricks and wind displacement of pumptrack recordings to use as a base layer to a kick drum, or to be layered within a bass sub. Often wind displacement is destructive and unwanted but I felt this DIY nature of manipulating audio felt in line with the ethos and nature of skateboarding itself.
After working consistently I came to a point where I felt my hihats, snares and kicks were representative of a drum machine and could be applied as actual drum samples.

To break up the repetitive sample work, I decided to create my ‘Sk8Scapes’ from the litany of recordings I have collected, I also organised with an artist to commission some artwork for the project’s website and artwork for the samplepack and tracks.

After the direction of drum samples was confirmed I decided to finalise and create the rest of the sample pack, cutting recordings and segments so people can easily cut and manipulate, as well as creating multiple breaks utilising samples I had created. After creating the samples I chose to also build an Ableton instrument rack containing drum samples created for ease of access, with a roar distortion module and drum bus module for manipulation on the fly. Macros are also included for modulation.

After finishing my sample pack I moved on to creating track examples of the pack, representing the versatility of the samples and recordings. My main intention for these tracks were to create them solely out of skateboard recordings, no usage of samples I didn’t create as well as no usage of synth VSTs that aren’t manipulating the skateboard recordings, I only permitted granulator synthesisers. While working on the tracks I felt the sample pack needed a bass, a sub of some sort. I decided to use a sampler utilising a low end thump in a recording and utilised a feedback loop of a distortion module to create low end frequencies on top of the sample. I felt this was in line with my strict ethos of using recordings only.
I finished the production of these tracks as well as the majority of the mixing stage as well as starting the development of my Skateboard transcription theory in draft form

This week I had to focus on finishing mixing the collection of tracks and finishing the ‘sk8scapes’. Luckily the mixing stage finished fast for most tracks as well as mastering, however some issues cropped up regarding the bass of a couple of tracks

After testing in multiple rooms and soundsystems, as well as checking mixing stages and mastering stages, the majority of my tracks were finished, just missing a few technical polishes regarding consistency of levels throughout the project. Due to issues with execution and original scope of social media posts, I’ve had to hone back original ideas and intentions planned, Social media will still be created just change of direction.

 Finalizing the tracks and ironing out some issues, I then moved on to the website and finalising the design and structure of it. In the meantime during this week I also received the artwork I had commissioned, costing £90. The artist was brilliant to work with, super communicative and talented, it was a pleasure to work with them.

After ruminating over my tracks and some problems, I decided to remaster and test them again, thankfully after doubly checking and critically editing in multiple rooms, I am happy with the result. Finishing touches of the website, social medias, meta data of audio, audio formats as well as bit depths for submissions, and what is available on services IE Bandcamp. Double checking structure and organisation of files.

 Cross reference, quad-checking of work, checking formatting and other finalizations. Posting and sharing social media in facebook skate groups. Adding thank you messages and converting images into the readme files.